Thompson Seeks Control Of Nuclear Waste Site

Gov. James R. Thompson has asked the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

(NRC) to give Illinois jurisdiction over the disposal of radioactive waste at a West Chicago site, a move that could start a fight to move the waste to the western United States.

In a letter to NRC Chairman Lando W. Zech Jr., Thompson asked the NRC to amend an agreement it has with the state granting Illinois power to regulate certain radioactive materials.

The current agreement gives Illinois power to regulate low-level radioactive waste and X-ray equipment, but doesn`t mention uranium and thorium mill tailings, the type of sandy waste product left at the Kerr-McGee plant site in West Chicago, said Molly Schmidt, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Regulatory Safety.

NRC staff last week recommended the radioactive material be buried permanently at the site in above ground, clay-lined cells designed by Kerr-McGee.

``West Chicago is too highly populated to be messing around with that kind of disposal,`` Schmidt said. ``Sure it will cost a lot to move it, but we`re looking at health and safety issues. How do you put a price on that?``

The state wants the waste moved to a disposal site out West.

Kerr-McGee spokeswoman Annita Bridges said the company was ``not really surprised`` by Thompson`s letter. Of the NRC staff report, she said the company, ``is studying it.`` Bridges said, ``This is the third time (the NRC has) held that (on site burial), and we`re hopeful that we`re closer now to a resolution after 10 years.``

Kerr-McGee filed its first request for on-site burial of the waste with the NRC in 1979, she said.

Schmidt said Illinois expects the NRC to give up jurisdiction over the site, maybe as early as this spring. Jan Strasma, NRC spokesman for the Glen Ellyn district office, didn`t dispute that timetable.

``We`ve been discussing it for a few months,`` Strasma said. ``We`ve already granted Illinois jurisdiction over most radioactive materials. This would not be a unique decision.``

Such an act by the NRC would nullify Kerr-McGee`s license to operate in West Chicago and Kerr-McGee would have to ask for licensing by the state Department of Nuclear Safety, Schmidt said. The plant closed in 1973, but a small staff works there overseeing storage of the waste, Bridges said.

``We`d say no and they`d file suit,`` Schmidt said of what she expects will eventually happen. ``The litigation could take a long time.``

Litigation over the Kerr-McGee site is pending in Washington, D.C., and in Du Page County Circuit Court, but ``is not related to the disposal of waste,`` Schmidt said.